Burma: A light won’t go out - Release of Aung San Suu Kyi

The release of Aung San Suu Kyi is headline news. [Click here for her BBC profile] The Newstateman carries an interesting article by Peter Popham (Independent) which gives some good context and background. He writes: “Her party has been dissolved, and she is banned from taking part in this year’s Burmese elections. But Aung San Suu Kyi, at the age of 65, remains the most potent force fighting to preserve the opposition in her country.”

Click here for the full article.

Also: Hooray! Aung San Suu Kyi is free

Update: In today’s Guardian, Gordon Brown hails Aung San Suu Kyi’s release but says there is no evidence that the junta will allow genuine democratic reform - “People power can bring democracy to Burma” The liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi is a great victory for people power, writes Gordon Brown. Her prolonged period of house arrest has come to an end as a result of the unremitting pressure applied by millions of people around the world who believed that no injustice can last forever. The decision to free Aung San Suu Kyi shows that the junta realises that having a single, iconic focus for resistance is counterproductive. However, there is no evidence that the junta has any intention of weakening its own position or allowing genuine democratic reform. The democratisation of Burma will be hard but it is not impossible. The web is a crucial weapon. Through it, people of good conscience can organise and apply precisely the sort of pressure that brought about the pro-democracy leader’s release. But just as importantly, through it and other forms of new technology, activists in Burma can tell the world about what is happening.